Studies have found that people spend 80-90% of their time indoors. So
it’s no surprise that one of the most promising technologies for
buildings is Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS). An IPS simply locates
objects and people in a building and provides location dependent
information.

An IPS is really just a data acquisition system, obtaining information
as to where people or objects are within the building and primarily
providing data to occupants to assist in way finding. It has much more
potential, such as providing valuable information to businesses and
building owners, and at the same time presenting some legitimate
concerns.

Brief History of Related Systems

The idea of locating objects and people in buildings is not new. Back
in the 1990s Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) entered the market.
These systems allowed hospitals to track equipment such as wheelchairs
and gurneys, warehouses to track merchandise, etc. These systems
initially used active RFID tags on objects and eventually used active
RFID tags in employee or visitor badges to track people. IT companies
also started providing RTLS via Wi-Fi systems in the building.
Initially the density of Wi-Fi access points in buildings had to be
significantly increased to allow the system to “triangulate” the object
or person and the Wi-Fi “tags” on objects were fairly bulky.

Indoor Positioning Systems may also have some similarities with
Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) that boost cell phone coverage in
buildings. The IPS uses cellphone apps to allow users to navigate
through a building and can use the cellphone capabilities, such as
Bluetooth to locate the cell phone users. Unlike the RTLS, where
corporate users (hospitals, warehouses, etc.) bought a system, DAS
deployments are business deals between the building owner and the local
cell carrier. Building owners wanted to satisfy the needs of their
tenants, and the cell carriers wanted to increase usage. It’s likely that
the indoor positioning systems will take on a “commercial arrangement”
similar to DAS: Who pays for what? Who owns the data? Who
profits? How to handle privacy and security aspects? Who maintains and
upgrades the system?

IPS Technology

Whereas GPS depends on satellites IPS is based on “reference anchors”,
essentially network nodes with a known position in the building. At
least three nodes are needed to triangulate and locate a “target” with
the aid of a software application to calculate location. There are a
number of technology approaches that have the potential for being the
basis of indoor positioning: radio frequencies, acoustic, optical,
electromagnetic radiation, etc. These methods measure the signal
strength or power levels of the radio waves or signals to calculate
distance from the anchor to the object.

One approach to the architecture of the IPS is “Bluetooth Beaconing”.
Bluetooth was created in 1994 to essentially replace short cables.
Today every smartphone is Bluetooth enabled and we’re all familiar with
using Bluetooth to connect ear buds, headsets, printers, game consoles,
keyboards, etc. It is the Bluetooth capabilities of smartphones
together with the Bluetooth beacons that can provide the location of
the smartphone users. In 2010 Nokia introduced an indoor positioning
system based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology (basically the
latest Bluetooth technology operating on low power with low latency in
communications). The density of the Bluetooth beacons is roughly the
same as a typical Wi-Fi deployment, with accuracy around 0.3 meters (one
foot), with no latency. (http://research.nokia.com/news/9505)

There appear to be two general approaches for the Bluetooth beaconing:
one where the smartphones pull data from beacons, the other just the
opposite, where the beacons pull information from the smartphones.
Several experts believe the first approach, the smartphones detecting
the beacons is a better plan for privacy and data security; the second
approach, the beacons detecting the smartphone eliminates the need for
specialized software on the smartphones and is passive for the
smartphone users.

Some tech giants, such as Google, are pursuing and developing the
technology but are not part of the alliance. Apple has hinted and is
expected to be a major player in indoor positioning with their iOS
devices as well.

Some of the companies involved in IPS are high tech companies motivated
to extend their existing outdoor mapping applications to the indoor
environment where GPS doesn’t work well due to signal attenuation. In
addition to extending their mapping applications and advertising
revenue the companies have an opportunity to create a treasure trove of
data that would assist businesses, primarily retail, in identifying
customers and product placement.

Where are Building Owners?

While all of this takes place in buildings and has the potential to
provide valuable data to building owners, it is not the traditional
building control system manufacturers, building operators or facility
management that are driving the technology and IPS deployments.
Without their involvement something is likely to be lost in this
approach as several beneficial applications of IPS can be used to
improve building operations. For example, one of the key metrics for
building management is data on how occupants are using the building
spaces. That may include when and where building occupants enter and
exit the building, what building spaces occupants inhabit, what time or
day they occupy the spaces, duration of occupancy, etc. Such data could
be used optimize the building operations, correlating the occupant data
to building systems, energy consumption, space utilization, and even
using the data for renovations of existing buildings or design of new
buildings. IPS could also be part of addressing life safety events, for
example locating people for safety or security purposes. With facility
management organizations really just starting to wade into the world of
data analytics, IPS is potentially posed to provide data on a building
that really hasn’t existed in the past and enrich the analytics of
building operations.

The IPS technology could be used for almost any size building, but
appears to be particularly well-fitted for large commercial buildings,
educational campuses, malls, airports and guided tours of museums. If
you think IPS is pie-in-the-sky and way in the future, think again:

Google launched their Indoor Maps and Indoor
Location in late 2011. They already have over 10,000 floor plans for a
variety of buildings in North America, Europe and Japan and claim 5-10m
accuracy indoors inside buildings. Some of the mapped clients include
IKEA, MGM Resorts, Mission College, Mall of America, Macy’s, Home
Depot, and Bloomingdales. (See
http://maps.google.com/help/maps/indoormaps/).

Walgreens has a partnership with a startup
called”aisle411”. Any Walgreen shopper using a smartphone can view maps
of any of 8,000 Walgreen stores and locate products down to a section
of an aisle.

Zonith has an IPS offering also using Bluetooth
beaconing, but it is targeting a different market; it focuses on
security, safety, and situational awareness applications. They have an
application called “Lone Worker”, focusing on large utilities, production
plants and commercial buildings which can locate lone workers and keep
track of employees for safety purposes.

So we track and locate people and objects outdoors in real-time via
GPS; IPS provides for similar tracking indoors. In the near future it
may be that there will be few places on Earth where we can’t be tracked
and identified. The key to successful IPS deployments are going to be:
(a) users having the option to opt in or out of being tracked, (b)
thoroughly secured systems, and (c) the demonstration of benefits for
smartphone users, business owners and building owners.